REVIEW: I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916

I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916
Author: Lauren Tarshis

I love this series of fictionalized eye-witness accounts of historical events written for kids. They focus on a wide variety of events from the destruction of Pompeii in AD 79 to the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The stories mix facts with a fictionalized story told by a child who was there for the event.
Each book is around 100 pages long and the audio books range from 1 to 1.5 hours, so the series is perfect length for use in a classroom situation or for at-home reading.

I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 is about shark attacks in the creeks along the Jersey Shore that summer. The attacks didn't just happen on the sea shore, but in Matawan Creek nearby as well. Swimmers in a creek did not expect to see a shark....and back then it was even believed that sharks would not attack humans.

Chet Roscow is staying in New Jersey with his uncle, helping him at his diner. His parents are in California trying to make his father's latest business venture work. Chet makes friends with some boys, and life seems to be settling down for him. Then, the newspaper headlines start talking about swimmers being killed by sharks at the beach. Chet sees a shark in Matawan Creek and tries to tell everyone about it, but most think he imagined it or the newspaper stories scared him. He walks down to the creek, and even his own friends refuse to get out of the water. Until they also see the shark. Can they escape with their lives?

There are 16 books in the I Survived series, with a new book scheduled to come out in September 2018.